


I never promised you a rose garden

by serenadreams



Series: lyrical love [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-20 01:47:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4768970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenadreams/pseuds/serenadreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Through every obstacle life throws their way, they’re the one in ten who make it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I never promised you a rose garden

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm letting myself be inspired by some of my favorite songs to work through my crippling writer's block. These oneshots are basically just writing exercises for me, a way to force myself to actually get words down on paper (screen) for once. This is inspired by (I never promised you a) rose garden by Lynn Anderson. 
> 
> For those asking, the final chapter of Nothing Can Harm You Here is 80% done, and I'll be working on getting it completed and uploaded over the next few days :)

_I would give you the world right now on a silver platter_

_But what would it matter_

_So smile for a while and let’s be jolly_

_Love shouldn’t be so melancholy_

_Come along and share the good times while we can_

Felicity’s pillow is well used to her screaming into it at this point. It’s also used to being used as a punching bag, and from time to time a weapon. Dating Oliver Queen tends to have that effect on her. Violent outbursts against her interior décor, that is.

Their relationship is going on two years old, and still no one has the ability to infuriate her quite like he does. It has a lot to do with the fact that they’re hotheaded kids, stretched to the limit by a stressful college workload and a love that they can’t seem to let die.

They’ve come close a few times. After screaming matches and tear-stained cheeks and household objects sent flying across rooms. But they can never go through with it.

Which is why she’s counting the minutes until her door slams open and he storms back in the way he left. It never takes him long.

Eight minutes.

The anger's still evident on his face, even as he reaches for her. She goes willingly, because isn’t that the best part of fighting? The best part of a relationship filled with so much passion that you’re always on the edge of burning up or burning out?

He presses her into the wall, knocking a picture down in the process. The glass smashes and she makes a mental note to yell at him for that later. Right now she’s a little distracted by his tongue and all the wonderful things it can do. His hands are demanding but never rough.

That’s another reason she’s never walked away. However furious he gets, however much she provokes him, however long they shout at each other, he’d never be violent with her. He punched a wall once and broke a couple of mugs. But he chose her least favorite ones and threw them in the opposite direction to where she stood. And when they make up, hard and hot and needy, he’s always gentle where it counts. She loves him for that.

She loves him for a lot of reasons actually.

She loves his stupid face and his stupid smile. She loves the latte he always goes out to buy her in the morning, however early it is. She loves the gold necklace he gave her, that she never takes off, a delicate disc with their initials engraved into it. She loves the way he carries her to bed when she falls asleep on the couch, and the way he kisses her nose and smiles when her cheeks turn pink. She loves his strong arms and how they always hold her close when she’s scared or sad. She loves how protective he is, loves that he scared her lacrosse-playing stalker so much that she hasn’t caught so much of glimpse of him since. She loves the tone of pride in his voice whenever he talks about her to other people.

She loves how much he loves her.

_She loves him_. It’s as easy as that.

And it’s why they’re both still here.

Their friends sometimes ask them why they stick it out. Why they put up with the endless arguments and issues that they never seem to be able to fully resolve. And their answer always comes down to the same simple fact.

It’s worth it.

He whispers an apology in her ear as his hand drags her zipper down her back, and she returns it as her fingers fumble with the button of his jeans.

It’s always worth it.

The days when she cries because he said something in the heat of the moment that hurt her so much she’s sure she’ll never forgive him. And the days when she slaps him and he has to leave and find something inanimate to punch. Those days are worth it for the days that follow.

The good days. When they wonder how it’s possible to love someone as much as they do each other. When they stay up late planning their future together, complete with weddings and babies and all the things they could never imagine doing with anyone else.

He confessed that he considered that once. He went out with Tommy after a particularly bad fight over something completely ridiculous, and his friend found him a girl and told him to get it out of his system. He considered it, for the briefest of moments. But he knew without a doubt that it would be the thing that broke them for good. And even when he was so angry his blood was humming with it, he could never do that. Never actually accept that a fight could be their last.  

So he left the bar and went home to a tearful Felicity and an apartment covered in feathers from her abusive treatment of their pillows. He kissed her and knew that it didn’t matter how much they fought, he’d always come home to her. Just as she’d always come home to him.

 

In the end, their relationship spans sixty-four years. And while they never stop fighting, it does become a rarer occurrence as they get older. Through every obstacle life throws their way, they’re the one in ten who make it. The couple that despite the world betting against them, defeat the odds anyway because they’re nothing if not stubborn, and they really, _really_ love each other.

 

_I beg your pardon,_

_I never promised you a rose garden_

_Along with the sunshine_

_There’s gotta be a little rain sometime_


End file.
